"A child's learning is the function more of the characteristics of his classmates than those of the teacher." James Coleman, 1972

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Memphis Smells the Coffee After the Pot Boils Over

With 45 cash-sucking corporate charters in operation, and with tens of thousands of children placed into penal school environments with no oversight, and with thousands of experienced teachers replaced by untrained temps, and with hundreds of millions of dollars poured into local and out-of-state charter businesses with nothing to show for it, and with dozens of communities disrupted by school closures, and with parents and teachers ready to burn down the Board of Education, the Shelby County school administration has finally admitted what we have been saying for a long, long time.

. .. .SCS currently has 45 charters operating, with five more set to open in the fall. Another 13 applied by the deadline this month to open the following year. SCS administrators have said loss of enrollment due to charters and the state-run Achievement School District is driving this year's $86 million budget gap.

"If our enrollment is going down based on ASD and charters, and this is causing us to have a financial deficit, why are we continuing to approve charters in areas where there is no need?" board member Stephanie Love asked. "It seems like we're approving a charter that then, as budget time comes, we say we have to cut the budget because of a charter that we approved."

Hopson said the district can legally deny a charter application if the school would create "substantial financial hardship to the district," but the state overruled when the district tried that a few years ago. But with so many charter schools now open, Hopson said they may have another shot at that argument.. . . .